Way back when I first got the itch to learn to quilt, I bought a little mini-quilt kit. That kit sat in the cupboard for ... years. It's a good thing that fabric doesn't have an expiration date. This was my first time dealing with this much color. This much vibrancy isn't my usual first choice. I wanted to have a center motif of some kind, so I searched for mandala illustrations on the internet. I printed out a simple one that I liked and then sewed the sheet right onto the quilt using a 1mm stitch length, as if I were paper piecing. Then I tore off the paper and went over the stitching with a narrow buttonhole stitch. I quilted the rest with my walking foot and bound it by hand. I like the way it turned out.
I love binding by hand! ... said nobody ever. (If you love hand binding, please tell me in the comments and give me some suggestions to help me love it too!) I am too slow at sewing things by hand to be a fan of binding by hand ... and probably too impatient to see the finished item as well. The quilt went to my grandson, Leo, who quite enjoys lying on it for tummy time or snuggling up with it when it's time for a walk outside.